Consensus Study Report October 2020 HIGHLIGHTS A Research Strategy to Examine the Taxonomy of the RED WOLF Dramatic reductions in the population of modern WHY DO MORE RESEARCH ON red wolf, Canis rufus in the eastern United States led to THE RED WOLF? their re-introduction by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service There are three possible explanations for the significant (USFWS) into North Carolina in the early 1980s. Since amount of coyote ancestry in modern red wolves. First, then, USFWS has managed a population of red wolves that the extant red wolves may be hybrids between coyotes was established from re-introduced individuals. However, and either gray wolves or what were once red wolves. subsequent genetic studies of the managed population Hybridization may have occurred long ago or in more indicated that these wolves displayed evidence of significant recent years. Evidence suggests that some hybridization coyote ancestry. This discovery raised the issue of whether certainly occurred in the 20th century as red wolf the extant managed1 population in North Carolina was a populations dwindled in size while coyotes expanded valid species that was eligible for conservation and recovery. their range eastward. Second, the extant red wolves may In March 2019, at the request of USFWS, the National have diverged from coyotes recently enough that they Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine issued continue to share alleles, even though each species has its a report that provided evidence that retained the existing own forward evolutionary trajectory— a situation referred taxonomic designation of the red wolf and reinforced the to as incomplete lineage sorting. Third, hybridization and validity of conserving and restoring red wolves (see Box 1). introgression of coyote genes into red wolves could reflect While the 2019 report was being prepared, genetic research historical phenomena associated with the ancestral origin on canid populations in Louisiana and Texas provided of the red wolf. In this case, the presence of coyote alleles evidence that certain genes characteristic of historical red would be the result of hybridization between coyotes and wolves might have been missing from the population introduced in North Carolina. gray wolves (or another ancient canid) that gave rise to Given this new information, the USFWS requested the the red wolf, in which some level of reproductive isolation National Academies to carry out a second study with two exists, but is incomplete. tasks. The first task was to solicit and review applications to Another reason why the controversy over the status carry out research to determine the taxonomy of the canid of red wolves persists is the paucity of data from ancient population in southern Louisiana, which was completed specimens (specimens dated prior to 1800) that could in January 2020. The second task was to develop this serve as a standard for the red wolf before hybridization report which lays out a research strategy to examine the with coyotes in the 20th century. There are only data evolutionary relationships between ancient red wolves, the for mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences from just extant managed red wolf population, and the unidentified four ancient specimens. Those data indicate a close canid populations in southern Louisiana. relationship between coyotes and red wolves but not the nature of that relationship. The mtDNA from historical 1 Also known as nonessential experimental population (NEP) and is specimens (specimens collected between 1800 and the composed of 20 individuals that roam their native habitats in eastern North Carolina. start of the eastward expansion of coyotes in 1920) cannot BOX 1 Conclusions from the 2019 National Academies Report Evaluating the Taxonomic Status of the Mexican Gray Wolf and the Red Wolf Evaluating the Taxonomic Status of the Mexican Gray Wolf and the Red Wolf, published in March 2019, addresses the taxonomic status (Canis rufus) and evolutionary history of the red wolf. The report concluded that available evidence at present supports species status for the extant red wolf for three reasons: (1) there is evidence that the historical population of red wolves was a lineage distinct from other canids, (2) there is evidence that the extant (captive and manageda) populations of red wolves in the United States represent a lineage of canids distinct from modern gray wolves (Canis lupus) and coyotes (Canis latrans) (Figure 1), and (3) there is evidence that the extant populations traced some of their ancestry to the historical red wolf. However, the authors acknowledged that additional genomic evidence from historical specimens could change this assessment. FIGURE 1. From left to right: red wolf (Canis rufus), coyote (C. latrans), and gray wolf (C. lupus). SOURCE: B. Bartel, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (left) and Melba Coleman (middle and right). a Captive red wolves refer to the approximately 245 red wolves maintained in 43 breeding facilities all throughout the United States. Managed red wolves refer to the individuals comprising the nonessential experimental population (NEP) in eastern North Carolina (or the extant managed population in North Carolina). be resolved without an analysis of nuclear DNA from the continuous lineage to ancient specimens in the eastern same specimens, so they do not resolve questions about United States? the ancestry of red wolves. Finally, genetic and genomic 3. Are the red wolves from the North Carolina managed data of extant putative red wolves come from populations population a continuous lineage to those in the eastern at the southwestern edge of the historical range and the United States before the coyote expansion in the 20th managed population (Figure 2), and it is unclear how well Century? those populations represent what was once a numerically 4. Are the Gulf Coast canids part of the distinct lineage of large, geographically widespread population of canids. canids that lived in the eastern United States before the coyote expansion? 5. Is the genetic diversity of the North Carolina managed EXAMINING THE EVOLUTIONARY population a subset of the diversity of the Gulf Coast RELATIONSHIPS AMONG ANCIENT canids? RED WOLVES, THE EXTANT MANAGED RED WOLF POPULATION, AND THE To clarify the relationships among these canids, new UNIDENTIFIED CANID POPULATIONS IN research should employ three types of data: morphological SOUTHERN LOUISIANA data from ancient specimens and extant animals, ancient The guiding principle for the research strategy described DNA, and genomic data from the unidentified canids and in this report is that it must address the relationships the extant managed population. Figure 3 outlines the five among ancient red wolves, historical red wolves, the extant questions, the canids to which each question pertains, and managed population of red wolves, and the unidentified where this report describes the necessary data. The next canids along the Gulf Coast. Resolving those relationships sections summarize the committee’s conclusions. requires answering five research questions: Morphological, Behavioral, 1. Are the ancient red wolves (i.e., specimens dated prior and Ecological Data to 1800) a distinct lineage from the lineages of gray Morphological data from ancient and historical red wolves and coyotes? wolves are somewhat limited, but even more limited 2. Are the historical red wolves (i.e., those in the 19th are behavioral and ecological data. Nevertheless, an century, before the eastward expansion of coyotes) a understanding of these types of data collected from ancient FIGURE 2. Map showing the reconstructed historical range of the red wolf and the locations where natural history specimens were collected that are thought to be non-admixed (circles) or hybrid (triangles). Locations from which DNA samples were taken are indicated with squares. and historical red wolves, extant North Carolina managed Recommendation: The committee recommends that population, and the Gulf Coast canids could be helpful existing morphological datasets be submitted to new in understanding their evolutionary relationships and the analytical techniques that are directly comparable to genetic consequences of those relationships. results, that ancient DNA sequencing and morphological analyses be performed on the same individuals, and that Conclusions new morphological data be collected that is relevant to assessing the ecological and behavioral distinctiveness of 2-1: To distinguish among the origin hypotheses for the historical red wolves in their core range. red wolf using morphology, additional kinds of data and analysis are required. The existing studies based on skulls Genomic Data from Historical can be supplemented by similar analyses of teeth, which and Ancient Canids are likely to better capture genetic relationships among taxa, and of postcrania, which are likely to supplement the Genomic data from ancient and historical canids would understanding of ecological differentiation of red wolves enable the investigation of the ancestry and population from coyotes and gray wolves. Geometric morphometric history of red wolves. To be useful, genomic data must data will enable finer level discrimination based on details be sufficiently fine-grained to make it possible to discern of shape that were not captured in the original analyses. whether the red wolf lineage is distinct from other wolf lineages in North America and to detect the occurrence and 2-2: New analytical techniques are required to assess the timing of historical